This is an interesting article from NBC, which basically states that corked wine doesn't give off a bad smell, but rather the chemical inhibits your own sense of smell. Trippy stuff!

"The main chemical responsible for corked wine's off-putting smell is a chemical called 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA). TCA infiltrates wine when a fungus that normally infects cork comes into contact with bleaches or other chlorine products used in wineries for sanitation."

"After the cause of the smell was identified in the 1990s, many wineries removed chlorine from their cleaning regimen."